While it is true that philosophy took the leading charge in the regeneration of African identity, as J-P. Sartre explains it in “Orphée noire” (1948), in response to the history of domination, it might be time now for philosophy to rectify how this regeneration is to be redirected. And that will be done meaningfully only if philosophers direct their attention to explaining and debating, analytically or interpretively, the world as it is experienced by Africans, and African experiences of the world. In other words, it is upon us to make philosophy relevant to us. It is no longer helpful to engage in attempts to show that there is something called African philosophy which must be different from anything else out there. The only thing that is our own are our own experiences, our problems and our joys, and they generate… We owe it to ourselves to think about, to try to understand, and to explain these experiences to ourselves, and it shouldn’t matter who out there gets attracted to our discussions of our problem
Autori e Curatori
Stephen Okello is a Senior Lecturer at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa where he has taught since 1994. He has also been the Rector of Consolata Institute of Philosophy. Both institutions are in Nairobi, Kenya. He holds both a Licentiate and PhD from Gregorian University, Rome. His area of interest and specialization includes Metaphysics, Philosophical Anthropology,
Phenomenology and Existentialism. His publications include: Intersubjective Communication in the Phenomenology of Husserl, (2000); African Philosophy: A Definition, Evaluation and New Prospects, (2009), and Ubuntu in Dialogue with Western Humanism for the Greater Good, (2012).